I am a crick in the neck...

Is it crick? or crink? Well, whatever the hell it is, I have one..I think the pillows are kinda weird here. I have trouble falling asleep for a while. Even when I cross my arms! I know, Gasp! No matter, I only have one more night and today is the last day of official work. Woohoo!

The wonderful world of technology
Technology never ceases to amaze me. Over dinner last night, Terry and I were talking about technology and how he thinks, unless someone comes up with some new breakthrough, that we seem to be reaching a plateau, advancement-wise. At least for a while. And I pretty much agreed. Our conversation led to how we both have Nation plans for our cell phones, but we're both roaming cuz we're "international"(The border is like an hour away from here, I find it hard to swallow that this is international). I hate getting screwed by technicalities. Anyhoo...well I just found out that while roaming, my cell rate is $0.79 a minute, which meant, after about an hour of personal calls made, no more calls unless it's work(cuz I can bill those to the company). Terry told me that I should just use voice chat on like yahoo or something.... That was a freakin Genius call...cuz it's totally free and we both had highspeed internet(it sucks if you're using dial-up for voice chat). But thank goodness Terry brought that option up. It really saved my life, phonewise, at least last night it did, well more my phone bill than anything. Thank you for working hard on all these wonderful technological advancements, you nerds out there!!!

Lunch
Had poutine and a Michigan Hot Dog today. I took pics of them, to be posted at the end of my trip. But a Michigan Hot dog is basically a hot dog in a bun covered with spaghetti meat sauce. It was kinda like a sloppy joe for hot dogs, and it was pretty good. But the poutine, really good. If I had to compare, it would be our version of chilli cheese fries. Because it is french fries covered with gravy and chunks of mozarella cheese. It was actually pretty good, but a little unhealthy(as if chili cheese fries are). Plus the size I ordered, moyenne(medium) was pretty large.
Songs for today

I head a redo of Real Love by Toby Lightman today and I didn't like it. Did it almost exactly the same way.

"The best decisions are honest ones..."

I am a floating bug in my wine...

Man, I got up pretty damn late this morning. My coworker and I only had a chance to grab a muffiin and have some coffee at Second Cup next to the agency where we pick up Mauricio. I totally wanted to sleep in, and started pondering. Then it occurred to me, what would happen if I got sick while on a business trip? Like do I actually get paid time off? Or would I get in big ass trouble? I wonder...there's something I could ask management when I get back. I always seem to try to put them in pickles, he he he. I like to do that :) Keeps em honest and on their toes, he he he. Cuz if you could call in sick while on a business trip, shiyooot, I'd totally do it so I can get like a vacation day, ha ha ha! Makes me kinda wish I was out on a business trip for like 2 or 3 weeks. Not one of those crazy ass business trips I've had in the past where we work every single day, but one of those where you get weekends off. Cuz THEN, that'd be my vacation.
Holy crap, Terry has a crazy ass memory. Earlier, while we were driving, he recognized a cab we, or rather he, saw yesterday. I think he should compete w/ Cic about who can memorize license plates better, he he he. I wish I had a photographic memory, or at least semi-photographic, that would be kinda nice. My memory seems to pertain to movie and television show lines, and other nonsensical data. Bummer.

Went to Shwartz's today, it was diyam good grubbin man. The line was hella long.  Took us like 20 minutes to get inside(See pictures later).  Had me some viande fumee(smoked meat) and a frankfurter with fries and a dill pickle. All for less than 10 bucks, including a bottled water. man oh man...yum yum yum yum yum yum(said like Mrs Poole from that one sitcom).

The roads are often in bad condition here. The rides are very bumpy. It's hard for me to sleep when the roads are bumpy like that.  Friggin roads...

I didn't know tonsils could grow back. They said it on Seinfeld...is that true? So if you get a tonsilectomy and they grow back, is that like a lifetime warranty? Do you get your next one for free? Hmmm, the things on my mind, he he he.

Things are changing everywhere nowadays. Some for the better, some, I don't know, and probably some, not-so-much. I guess one just has to roll with the punches.

Dude, I have one big complaint about it here. Gnats, freakin gnats. They're everywhere! And I had to wear a light shirt today so that they were all attracted to it. And I bet it was impossible to not have swallowed one or breathed one in or anything. BLECH! Maybe that's why I wasn't so hungry at dinner. I should've brought that 40% deet crap w/ me here, I would've needed it more than I did when I was camping....

Songs I heard today listening to XM radio.
Meet Virginia - Train
Gin Blossoms - Follow you down
Cranberries - Dreams
Lisa Loeb - Stay

I am a fallen eyelid...

Oh Canada!
So here I am in Montreal. Got here yesterday around 5:30-ish. Checked out a few places after sitting in my hotel room for a bit and settling in. Very nice city. It has that old city in the new world type feel. Lots of parcs and tourist-type attractions. I've checked out Stade Olympique(Olympic Stadium) and a bunch of other stuff. I'll post pics when I'm done w/ my trip. The humidity's actually not as bad as I thought it might be, about 68%. But it might rain today and tomorrow, and we'll be driving around in it all day, so that kinda sucks. Especially that it's a walking around type of city. Hopefully I can get the chance to do some more venturing, and maybe some shopping before I leave.

Tim horton's seems to be one of the popular restaurant-type things here. I think we're gonna go get breakfast there tomorrow. When I was doing that french language testing back in the office a few weeks ago, one of the guys told me that we had to go try smoked meat. And the dude we're working with right now, Mauricio(he's a mexican dude, pretty cool huh?), showed us this one spot, Shwartz's, and duuuude, the place was packed, I mean the line was around the block almost. He said it was like that all day long. It was kinda like how Pink's is back homoe. I'm gonna hyped up to see what all the fuss about smoked meet is...

Work right now is not hard at all. We're pretty much sightseeing and I'm just listening to what the french voice guidance says while we're on the way and note any problems. Well, we don't actually get to stop and go into any of these sites, but it's still pretty cool.

There are some driving rules here a little different from the ones I'm familar with back home. First, no right turns on reds. I'm used to that one though, from New York driving. When the green light is blinking, you can turn left or right w/o yielding, but if it is solid then you have to yield. There are straight arrows for greens, which is the bottom light and the second to the bottom light, which is the solid green. Only when the solid green is lit can you make a right. This is gonna take some getting used to.

It didn't rain today, whew...hopefully the rain passed us up up here. Been a long ass day, didn't finish my report til 11:30PM tonight, I'm going to retire now...

I am a grande soft taco...

Africa Hot, revisited
My goodness it's hot out there. I was on my way to work at 8:30AM and it was already 77 degrees and climbing. I can't believe I actually took a nap out there yesterday during lunch. Of course, the AC was on but it was still pretty hot. Camping is gonna be one hell of a hotspot, he hehe.

money down the drain
I am so pissed right now, so pissed. I can't freakin believe it. Damn it, damn it, God damn it. I hate how I'm so bad with balancing my checkbook. I haven't been paying attention and thought I had a certain amount of money. I totally forgot about my automatic monthly withdrawals and did not factor those into my current balance. So I spent a little here and there and did not pay any attention to it. I tried to withdraw cash at the bank the other day and the lady told me I was already in the negative. So I saw my statement and I had 6 overdraft charges! That's $22 a pop man, and I just checked my balance again today, crossing my fingers and 3 more overdraft charges popped up. Friggin-A man, that's a total of 9 overdraft charges totalling almost $200. That's money I will never see again, that went to nothing, nothing at all. I'm not complaining about not having enough money, well actually I kinda am, but that's just money wasted. Well, I'm making a vow now...no longer! No LONGER!

bball update
My sunday team is 2 - 0 (we won by 39 on sunday w/ only five guys, woohoo!), my tuesday team is 1-3 (We finally won last night), and my thursday team is now 1 - 12 (We ALMOST, of course almost being the operative word here, beat the number 1 team in the first round last week). I am hoping since we won on Sunday and Tuesday, I can go for the 3-Peat and win on Thursday too.
Yay, gettin off early today, rowing time!

"The wold doesn't fear a new idea. What it fears is a new experience."
-D.H Lawrence

I am a gas pocket...

Lifestyles of the rich and famous
I was thinking this morning about famous people and their old school friends. Like say, Jennifer Aniston or Tom Hanks. He must have friends thinking, "Dang, we went to highschoo/college with that guy." That must be pretty trippy. But I was thinking more along the lines of like the president or something. Cuz he's the president, and there'd be some people that hate him and some that love him. I wonder what it would feel like if one of my friends became president of the United States. That would be a trip. I'd be like, "Dang, I used to hang out w/ that guy/girl all the time. I wonder if I could ride in Air Force 1?" he he he.

jeopardy
I can't believe that jeopardy guy is still winning. I heard on the news that he surpassed the million-dollar mark last night. I can only say one thing for that, W....O....W. 30 days and a million dollars. They tape 5 shows in one day, so he had to win 5 in a row, for 6 days straight. Dang. What's strange though, is how people keep saying how smart he is, and he may very well be, but I don't relate fact retention to intelligence. All he's doing is answering questions, or rather, asking questions about factual things. Like, who was the pope in 1934 that dadadadadada. I mean, knowing that doesn't really say how smart you are, rather that you came accross it, and remembered it. It just depends on how much information someone can hold. I mean, I still like the show, becuase I love random and even not-so-random facts.

Fight or flight
This might have come from reading Verwin's blog from a few posts ago, or maybe because of that article I read about the Philippines pulling out their troops from Iraq in order to release that Filipino hostage, but I wonder what I would do when I am face to face with a fight or flight scenario. I would like to think that I would go for the first, but the latter is just as good. I guess depending on certain situations, I already know what I would do. Ver and I were talkin about this the other night. Like if I was getting carjacked at gunpoint, I would not even give it a second thought to give up my car, I would even offer to give him the money in my wallet and if he wanted me to sing a song and dance while he was taking my car and money, well I would happily oblige. Some things aren't worth dying for...and my car is one of them. Now, if it was my family and people I love in trouble, then I know exactly what I would do. I would die first before I let any harm come to them. Well, that's what I feel that I would do. I guess you'd never know until you actually come face to face with that decision. Glad I haven't had to yet.

A sad day for Lakerland...
So ends the Shaq-Kobe era and the beginning of either a Kobe era or a scrubs era, pending on the outcome of Kobe's trial. There are a lot of torn minds about how it all went down, but if only they could see the big picture that we see, things might have been different. If the business wasn't about who's team it is, or who's gettin his, or whatever, we could be looking at a few good chances to a few more titles. If it really was about winning and the game, there would be more moves like what Karl Malone and GP did last year. Oh well, here's to the future!

"To Infitinity, and beyond!"

I am the pillow on my bed...

Dang, it is so nice outside...totally not a day for staying indoors and listening to a bunch of people give French voice commands all day. But alas, tis my job, and I must. At least I get to set next to this big window and look outside all day, he he he.

Man, it's been a long time since I last wrote something down. And I've done so much since then, but I definitely don't wanna blog about all of it...I don't even remember all of it.

I had my company picnic this weekend, and brought cic and the whole fam. It was a lot of fun, they got to meet some of my coworkers and jos even won a CD Car Stereo system. I forgot the model, but it was cool she was happy. I won dodger tickets, WOOOHOOO...unfortunately the rest of the fam didn't win anything, so hopefully they will next time.

I have been quite active as of late though, playing basketball about 4 times a week, doing this dragonboat(rowing competition) thing for work, and I finally went hiking w/ Cic, and Glenn and Dorothy too. Hiking is fun, I hope we get more opportunities to hike in the near future. But yeah, I'm probably in the best shape I've been in the past 3 or 4 years. Feels pretty good. We'll see how long it'll last though.

So I've been working on this French Voice testing stuff for the past two weeks(like i mentioned earlier kinda), in preparation for my Montreal trip in a few weeks. But anyway, it's different from what I usually do. I'm pretty much just overseeing other people right now, so there isn't much for me to do. So I've had the chance to go online again and chat w/ my friends. I read on Ai's blog the other day how it was good to chat w/ her old friends, and I've pretty much been feeling the same thing. It's good to catch up w/ the IM world, becuase really, it really provides a good avenue to keep in touch. one of the bigger drawbacks is that most of us are only on at work and are doing other things afterwards, and some of us, like me, can't really chat online doing my normal work. Oh well, you gotta enjoy it while it lasts! So that's what I'll do.

Got another game tonight, good luck team!